Aroma Tea Shop

This is another tea that charlotteZero sent my way, that haven’t had a moment to drink. On the whole, this is a nice roasty sort of oolong. I can see why it might be an enjoyable cup of tea for those that enjoy that sort of oolong. I of course, had it in my head that this was a black tea when i brewed it, and so it was mostly a lot of aaaaaah! ZOMG oolong! aaaaah. once i adjusted my thinking, it was a nice enough cup of tea, though obviously, not my favourite given the oolongy-ness of this one. It might be one for Terri though… ponders

Yesterday I was cleaning up my tea stash and I found these black dragon pearls which I forgot I had. Even worse I never reviewed them on Steepster, how irresponsible of me. ;-)

I decided to steep this Western style in my stump teapot for 3 minutes. I notice this has a slight floral aroma which is really interesting. I definitely get a lot of cocoa notes as well as the sweet honey aftertaste. A very mellow and mild tea, I think this would be a good one for the afternoon too. This is a great one to drink plain if you like your black teas without additions. The Aroma Tea Shop has such great stuff, definitely a good place to visit if you’re in S.F. and you like tea.

Sipdown…
sadly I’m out of this, it’s been such a lovely Golden Monkey but luckily I do know where to get more. ;)

My cupboard overfloweth with tea but I still like to keep at least one Golden Monkey around as they are one of my favorites.

Another great morning tea for me. I love how the wirey leaves smell like dark chocolate in the tin and this is one yummy, chocolatey tea.

This morning I was thinking I could probably pare down my tea collection to no more than 25 teas, lately I’m finding it ridiculous that I have so many when I really love only a fraction of what’s in my current collection. Live and learn! I think I will be working on paring things down this year while I’m looking for work = not a lot of money for buying tea anyway.

One of two teas I purchased at the Aroma Tea Shop last week. I think the golden monkey is quickly becoming one of my favorite tea types.

Yesterday I had brewed this Western style but this morning I’m using my gaiwan. It seems like 60 seconds is about all I really need in steeping this one. The dry leaves are slender and curved and the aroma is exactly that of chocolate. The tea is a dark reddish orange and is BOLDER than some other golden monkeys I’ve tried.

At 60 seconds, the first steep is very chocolate-y with a slight bitterness in the finish but nothing that puts me off of the flavor too much. I thought maybe I had steeped this one slightly too long.

At 45 seconds, the 2nd steep has mellowed out considerably and still has cocoa notes but with a smoother finish and now I am getting more of the honey sweet aftertaste that the description has. This is an easy tea to sip on plain but is also nice with a bit of soymilk added because then it becomes more of a creamy cocoa.

At 30 seconds, the 3rd steep is definitely lighter and I think I might have preferred the 45 second steep, but it’s always good to play around with your parameters a bit. Here I’m getting a bit more of the sweeter notes I’d associate with a golden monkey.

I will easily be able to get 4 or 5 steeps out of this tea so while it isn’t the cheapest tea I’ve ever bought, it is definitely a good value.

another one from terri, though indirectly from Charlotte zero. THIS is fantastic. Golden Needle tend to be hit or miss with me and this is a hit! I am a fan of this..i ended up drinking the cup up and hitting the bottom of it without even realising it. Thanks so much for sharing this with me terri. i think it might need to go on the list for a future order :)

From CharlotteZero! thanks so much! I’ve only got one serving left of Verdant’s Golden Fleece and maybe a few teaspoons of this one will fit that spot in my cupboard. I LOVE the description (it sounded like my very favorite- Butiki’s Hattialli Golden Lion Assam). It sounds like all the flavors I love in a tea. Unfortunately, not quite the same as either tea…

Steep #1 // 15 minutes after cooling // 3 1/2 min
This blend seems to be darker than Golden Fleece. The flavor is light but not as light as GF. Less honey, more sweet potato. Also a hint of tobacco. It’s difficult to describe this one actually. It might have a bit of chocolate when it cools. I’m not really getting any chocolate or apricots as the description mentions.

Steep #2 // just boiled // 3 1/2 min
Another nice cup… this one would be in the middle of the Hattialli and the Golden Fleece, flavor-wise. Tasty, but the other two do their thing better than this one.

And so the new month begins!

I’m starting the month with 312 teas (which includes the ones I ordered from Verdant that aren’t here yet). That’s 18 less than I started last month with. Somebody asked me why I have so many teas (my overall high was something above 450 a few months ago). The truth is, life is all about art & creativity, theme & variation, at least for me. The pitch of the timer on my stove is ‘B’, the key of the current timer song on my iphone (‘silk’) is ‘c minor’. I know the pitch/key of pretty much everything in & around my home. I like to think of each day as a work of art, in a tapestry that is part of an even larger tapestry, etc. So why would I drink the same tea every day? :)

Tea is also a break, for me, of the constant absorption of sound, & the analysis of that sound. Tea is not silent: there are bubblings, timers, pourings…
But tea is another form of art for me, beautifully complex.

I also have a lot of teas thanks to my many wonderful & generous tea friends, such as Charlotte Zero, who sent this one to me. To honor those friends, I’m gonna start this month by drinking the many teas they have shared. This one is delicious!
Sipdown!

I was gonna drink a Shu Puerh, but then I saw this peeking out of the teas sent to me by CharlotteZero, & it was time!
5G + 4oz X (rinse)15/30/45sec etc…I’m on the 5th steep, & enjoying every steep. Sweet, like a slice of honey wheat toast.
Thanks Charlotte!

I woke up a bit early this morning to attend an 8:30 barrel tasting with our winemaker. We tasted the 2012s.

After drinking wine first thing in the morning, I felt I needed a big pot of a lighter tea to rehydrate me. I chose this one. I was in a rush to get back to work, and I thought my electric kettle was nearly boiling, so I poured the water. My thermometer said the water was only 160 degrees. Oops!

It has been more than a year since I purchased this, so it’s not as fresh as it could be, but it’s still pretty good. The liquor is a bit brownish in color, which usually is a good indicator that I won’t like it. It does have a strong pea aroma, sort of like those big mushy English peas that I don’t like, but sweeter. I can also smell artichokes and nuts. All things considered, this wasn’t a bad pot of tea.

Can’t find a steeping time for this tea so I am just going with my “tea gut” and trying about 2 minutes. At 1 mins it was still a bit too watery tasting. 2 minutes seems to be about right. I was thinking of leaving it in till 3 minutes but didn’t want to end up with bitter tea.

This is quite a unique tea. The coconut flavoring is almost perfectly balanced with the Chinese green tea. It’s good but something is bothering me about the flavor. It’s good but at the same time there is some after flavor that I am finding odd. As I sit here thinking about it I’m pretty sure it’s just the coconut. Believe it or not coconuts can have slightly different flavor depending on when you eat them. This kinda reminds me of the young coconuts we have opened in Hawai’i. Which by the way makes me more impressed with this company. I always prefer real flavoring and real pieces of ingredients to artificial flavoring.

Soft and gentle, this tea is. Good for a tea padawan.

Another disappointing Dragonwell. I’m just not in the mood to talk about it. :-P

Still loving this tea two years later. Must drink it up soon, though! I said I was going to drink some flavored tea today because of my cold, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I picked up my canister of “Hello Sweetie” and the dry leaves smelled like Hawaiian Tropic sunscreen, which is a really great smelling sunscreen, but the association was not appetizing at all.

Had to bump this one’s rating up a bit. It’s very nice brewed both gongfu and western style.

I picked this up during their Black Friday sale. It’s already one of my favorite Yunnan black teas.

I especially like websites that describe their teas and my tasting is right in step. The flavor and aroma of honey cannot be missed along with the sweet malt tones and a special bourbon soupcon. As advertised absolutely no bitterness and a effortless smoothness from steep to steep.

I used a 4 oz teapot with 5 gm tea. Short steeps and it lasted forever. My brother-in-law is branching into teas so that he doesn’t have that overpowering caffeine buzz from coffee he takes in the afternoon and this tea will suit him just fine.